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I go slowly, with my rifle raised, so I can use the scope. My watch says I’ve gone a quarter of a mile. Still no sign of him.

I continue to walk silently through the woods, until I get to a mile and a half.

Shit, I missed him.

Had Renzo been inaccurate about the distance? Not likely, the man is an architectural engineer, he’s good with spatial analysis. Could he have switched sides of the road? It’d make sense. If he has a GPS and he’s looking at terrain view, he’d see that the forest comes in a lot thicker and closer on the west side of the house.

I hustle to the west side of the road, and then start hustling north, not using my scope, just my eyes to avoid stepping on anything that will make noise.

I get out my phone.

Me: Get all of you into the master bathroom. Every place else in the bedroom has that big window and a sniper can make a shot if he’s in a tree.

My phone buzzes.

Renzo: In the bathroom.

Me: Good.

Then I hear:

Crack.

The fucker is shooting at me.

The bullet hits a rotten tree four trees in front of me and the trunk explodes wide open. It begins to topple to the right.

I duck down and go left, I’d stayed too long in one place to text. That’s how he got the shot. Now I go forward in a zig-zag pattern. Don’t need to check my GPS, I’m close.

Crack.

Another tree to my left explodes. I hide behind a tree to my right and look up with my scope. I slowly scan the treetops. I can’t find him. I start forward.

Ping.

Another shot, this one from a pistol. It’s coming from the East, probably the road.

Dammit, there’s two men.

Ping. Ping.

I duck and roll. I need to get rid of this joker before I can handle the sniper. Both of them have to have night vision goggles.

I zig zag south, neither of them should be expecting that. If I can get behind the one with a pistol, I can take him out.

I go, what I hope is far enough, then go slowly to the road. There he is, right there at the edge. Dumbass, at least get into the brush. I don’t want to alert the sniper that I’ve got his friend, so I pull out my knife and come in slow behind him.

When I’m within reaching distance, I pull his head back, and slit his throat. He doesn’t have a chance to radio his buddy. I toss his comm system, but I grab the night vision goggles. They’ll come in handy.

I get back into the trees and move in that same zig zag pattern, this time with the night vision goggles, and I’m going faster. I see a little bit of the house through the trees. I’ve got to be close to where the sniper is.

I smell cigarette smoke. The tree rustles above me, just in time for me to see the rifle start to point down. I spray the area with bullets from my M4A1.

I hear one muffled scream before a body falls partway down the tree, landing twenty feet from the ground. Dead as a doornail.

Now I can take my time to text.

Me: Got him. Keep Bella and Trenda in bathroom, then come help me hide the body from their view. We can call the Sheriff after that.